Dozens of children on death row in Yemen

Dozens of juvenile offenders below the age of 18 continue to face the death penalty in Yemen, in violation of the United Nations Convention of the Rights of the Child.

The latest victim was a girl named as Hind Al-Barti who was executed on the 3rd of December this year.

The UN Committee on the Rights of the Child says although it was not aware of the nature of the crime committed, information gathered indicates that Hind Al-Barti was about 15 years old at the time of the offense.

Chairman of the committee Jean Zermatten says the executions were a serious infringement of the commitment undertaken in 2005 and 2009 by the Government of Yemen to abolish the death penalty, torture, and other inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment to offenders below the age of 18.

"What is important for us is the moment of the commission of the offense, not the moment of the judgment. We have information that 14 children have been executed between 2006 and 2010. Yemen came before the committee in 2005 and we made recommendation to Yemen to stop the execution and to ban death penalty. I don’t know why they continue to execute children because they were also before the Human Rights Council where they assured to observe and respect the obligations under the convention."

The committee says it has information that 21 juvenile offenders, all under 18 years at the time of the commission of the offenses, have been condemned to death.